Something Else
by justasec
Summary: Freddy and Katie are in love. They just don't know it yet.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: School of Rock isn't mine. I'm just taking the characters out to play.

ooOoo

Freddy Jones was late. Very late.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit…"

He fumbled with the keys in the ignition, shut off the car, and locked the door. When he was halfway up the stairs to Dewey's apartment, he stopped and turned around, ran back to his car, and grabbed his drumsticks.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!"

He sprinted back up the stairs, threw open the door and quickly maneuvered his way around Lawrence, Katie, and Zach, to make it behind his drums, just in time to play the last fifteen seconds of the song.

Once the song ended, all the band members turned and glared at Freddy. He sheepishly grinned, but no one was appeased.

Surprisingly, it was Zach, not Summer, who spoke up. "This is the fifth time, dude. You're making us fall behind."

Freddy mentally grimaced. It was one thing to get reprimanded by the band manager, but it was another thing when it was the lead guitarist doing the reproaching."Sorry, everyone. It won't happen again. I swear."

Katie rolled her eyes. "You say that _every_ time, Jones."

He leaned back on his chair and smirked. "Yet it works _every_ time, doesn't it, Brown?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the group, looking expectantly at Dewey to scold the young drummer. "Dude, you gotta stop being late. It's not cool. Let's try a little harder, all right?"

Freddy nodded, then pulled a face at Katie, who turned away with an irritated sigh.

Dewey grinned. "Let's rock!"

Freddy was the last to leave Dewey's apartment, as the energetic leader of School of Rock had lectured him again on the merits of being punctual. He grabbed his drumsticks and raced down the staircase, hoping to grab a quick bite to eat before he was expected home. His path was impeded, however, by a dark-haired bass-player who was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. He managed to stop before he collided with her, and instead decided to skip his meal and bother his band mate. He sat down next to her, their bodies now completely blocking the staircase. "Hey, Brown."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Ugh. Jones, what do you want?"

"Nothing."

She snorted. "Please."

"How come you're sitting here? Where's your car?"

"In the shop. Something's wrong with the tire pressure."

He grinned. "Maybe that extra weight," he said as he poked her in the arm, "is making that poor car support more than it can handle."

Her jaw dropped. "I cannot believe you, Freddy Jones! You are the most infuriating boy I have ever met in my entire life!"

She angrily stood up and walked outside to the curb, cell phone in hand. Freddy followed.

"Damn it!"

"What's wrong, Posh?"

"My mom's not answering. No doubt she forgot that I don't have my car and that I needed to be picked up today. She's not going to be done with work for another three hours, either; a big merger or something is happening today."

Freddy had already grabbed her bass from where she had unceremoniously placed it on the ground and had begun walking towards his car. "Come on, Brown. I'll give you a lift home."

"Thanks, Freddy."

She got into the car as Freddy put her bass in the backseat and waited for him to start the car. He fiddled with the radio until he found something he liked.

Katie had to smile. Before putting on his seatbelt, or turning on the headlights, or putting the car in drive, Freddy was first and foremost concerned with what music would be playing in his car during the ten-minute drive to her house.

Freddy didn't need to ask where her house was; they had been classmates (and close friends) for years, after all. They came to a stoplight, and ever the drummer, Freddy began tapping his hands on the steering wheel to the blaring music. "Hey, Brown, did you get that last problem in chemistry?"

Startled, she jumped in her seat. "What? Oh, yeah, I got it. You didn't?"

"No. Do you have time to explain it? That test is in two days, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And sure, I have time. You can come up to my room when we get to my house and I'll try to help."

They came to a stop in front of a lavish town house; a house very similar to the one Freddy lived in himself.

Katie took a key out of her bass case and opened the front door, holding it open until Freddy walked in. She put it back in her bag, and then went up the stairs, knowing Freddy would follow. Once in her room, she set her bag down and sat down at her desk. Freddy had situated himself on her bed, and she opened her book bag and took out her chemistry assignment.

She handed the book to Freddy and he found the correct page.

"Here it is."

Katie's best subject was chemistry, so she easily explained the problem to the blond drummer, and watched as his eyes brightened with understanding. They were both seventeen now, and in their senior year of high school. Freddy had matured, to say the least. His hair was no longer spiky, instead, it nearly grazed his shoulders and fell forward on his forehead, and he was constantly pushing it out of his eyes. He had grown taller as well, the top of Katie's head only reaching his chin. He wasn't stupid, Katie mused, as Freddy wrote down his answer, just uninspired. He did fairly well in all his subjects; surprisingly, he excelled in English- his writing was exceptional.

They had been best friends since sixth grade, once the band really had kicked off. Freddy spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the bassist's backside while he drummed, and he had begun to tease her about it. They had eventually gotten past that stage in their relationship, after Katie had bestowed a well-deserved slap to his cheek. Her eyes had widened in shock after what she had done, and she had immediately begun apologizing. He had grinned, and they had been friends ever since. Now Freddy was Katie's closest friend, and she knew the feeling to be mutual.

"Brown." Upon not receiving a response, Freddy looked up from his assignment to see Katie staring at him, a small smile on her face.

"Brown?" No answer.

"Brown!" Still nothing.

"Katie!" That did the trick. It broke her out of her reverie, and she blushed darkly, as Freddy smirked. "I know I'm hot, Brown, but staring is rude."

She scowled. "Shut up."

He grinned, then looked at the clock on her dresser. "Time for me to leave."

"You can show yourself out, Freddy Jones!"

"Aww, no goodbye kiss?" Freddy ducked, laughing as she threw her pencil at him, before bounding down the stairs.

"Later, Brown!" He yelled this from the bottom of the stairs, and then ran out of the house to his car.

ooOoo

Please review! It means a lot!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: School of Rock isn't mine.

ooOoo

At school the next Monday morning, the entire band met in front of Summer's locker, as was custom. They'd go over their after school schedules for the week, and decide on when to hold their band practices. Neither Katie nor Freddy had major commitments that week, so they told this to Summer and walked to their own lockers, counting on the fact that she'd tell them their schedule later in the day.

"Brown, what's the deal?"

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"

They came to their lockers. "You totally stole my parking space," he whined.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

"No! It was so close to the exit…now I'll have to wait in that huge line to get out!"

She opened her locker. "Cry me a river, Jones. I didn't see your name on that spot. Maybe you should get to school earlier."

He pulled a face. "I already get here _five_ whole minutes," he said as he held up his fingers, "before school starts. How early do you expect me to come?"

"Whatever. Are you done whining now?"

He scowled, still unhappy about his occupied parking space, but nodded.

"You going to that party Friday night?"

Katie furrowed her brow. "Alicia's?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know, probably. Why?"

Freddy shrugged. "Just curious."

"Small talk is _not_ your forte, Jones."

"Yeah, I know." He grinned, before widening his eyes. "Oh, shit, I forgot- do you have that Ramones CD I gave you a while back? Zack's been bugging me for it for days."

She started rifling through the top shelf of her locker. "Uh, yeah, here it is. Sorry, I totally forgot I had it."

The warning bell rang as she handed it to him, and they both gathered their backpacks as they walked towards their first class, chemistry.

The week went by quickly, and Katie soon found herself at Alicia's house, watching kids from their high school class dancing to hip-hop music.

She felt someone behind her and turned around to see Freddy. "Hey, Posh. Music leaves something to be desired, does it not?"

She smiled. "Hell, yes. I'm getting headache as we speak."

He held out his arm. "Let's go outside."

"It's freezing!"

"Just for a little while. Come on, you can have my coat."

Katie took his arm and allowed herself to be led outside to the backyard. Freddy let go of her and flopped down on the grass, patting the ground next to him for her to sit down. They fell into a companionable silence, and Katie tightened her grip on his coat around her shoulders. "What are you doing after high school, Jones?"

"Well, college for sure. I'm seriously thinking about something with writing or English."

Katie looked at him encouragingly. "You should. Your writing is amazing."

He gave her a disbelieving look.

"It is. Seriously."

"Whatever. What about you? Chemistry?"

"Yeah. It just fits for me, you know?"

He smiled at her.

"What'll happen to the band, do you think?"

She shrugged. "I guess we'll break up."

He leaned back on his palms and looked up at the sky. "I guess we will. Damn."

"I know. It was fun, though, wasn't it? I really–"

"KATIE!" Marta was yelling for her from inside the house. "KATIE!"

"MARTA!" She laughed, then stood up. "I'd better see what she wants. Hang on a sec."

"Okay."

She slipped off his coat, handed it to him, and walked inside the house.

"KAT- oh, here you are. I just met this guy who wants to meet you." She grabbed her arm and began dragging in the direction of the kitchen.

"No way, Marta. I don't want to meet some random guy."

"Oh, please, Katie, just come and say hi?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Marta led her to the kitchen, where through the patio door Katie could see Freddy still sitting outside, staring at the sky.

"Katie, meet Tom."

She turned around to see a good-looking, dark-haired boy about her age, smiling at her.

"Hi, Tom, nice to meet you."

"Hey. I saw your show a few weeks ago. You were really good."

She smiled, uninterested. "Thanks."

"Do you want a drink?"

She shook her head. "No, thanks. I don't drink."

He took a large sip from his cup. She wrinkled her nose. He reeked of alcohol.

"How many of those have you had?"

"I don't know. A few." He leered at her. "Hey, you wanna make out?"

Katie frowned. Marta had set her up with a guy who was _drunk_!

"Uh, no. Maybe you should stop drinking."

He snorted. "Hell no."

Tom set his cup down on the counter, and proceeded to attempt to kiss her on the lips.

Her eyes widened as he grabbed her wrists and smashed his lips against hers. He released her when she kicked at his shin. "Bitch."

"Get the hell off me." She was speaking loudly now, hoping someone would hear her over the loud music from the empty kitchen. "Get off!"

He grabbed a hold of her again. "I don't think so. C'mere." With that, his hands crept to the waistband of her jeans, all while planting wet, slobbery kisses on her neck.

Katie began to panic. "Get off!"

Outside, Freddy heard the last part of the exchange, immediately recognizing the voice as Katie's. He ran inside the house, to find her struggling in the firm grip of a drunken boy.

He immediately saw red and shoved the other boy away from Katie. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing, man. Relax. We were just having a good time," he slurred drunkenly.

"Like hell you were. Stay the fuck away from her."

"You can't tell me what to do!" He swung at Freddy, who managed to dodge the poorly aimed punch.

Freddy was not the strongest boy, but he had worked up some muscle hauling his drums from place to place, and his arms were not to be trifled with- playing the drums as much as he did could be considered serious exercise.

He clenched his fist and punched the other boy as hard as he could, causing the other boy to stagger wildly before falling down, unconscious. He glared down at his victim, and then looked around for Katie.

Her face was ashen, and she trembled slightly. When her eyes met his, she swallowed, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms tightly around him, her face buried in his neck. "He was going to rape me, Freddy. I didn't know what to do…"

She was crying openly now, and he tightened his arms around her waist. "Shh, Katie, it's over now. Look, he's bleeding on the floor." She looked at the prone form on the ground before shuddering slightly, and turned back to the safety of Freddy's arms.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I'll take you home."

She nodded, wiped her face roughly, and allowed herself to be led to Freddy's car. "You didn't take your car here, did you?"

She shook her head. "No, I came with Summer."

Freddy opened the car door for her before scrambling back to his side and getting in. "Home?"

She nodded.

By the time they got to her house, Katie was fast asleep. Once he had parked the car, Freddy looked over at her sleeping form and was becoming increasingly hesitant to wake her. Finally, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Katie?"

She stirred and looked up to see his face. "Are we here?"

"Yeah. Come on, I'll take you inside. Is anyone home?"

"No, Mom's working really late again, and Dad's still on his business trip."

"Okay. You have a key?"

She dug through her purse and produced a key. They got out of the car and walked up the front steps to the door. Katie opened it and then stood the open doorway, facing Freddy. "I don't know how to thank you, Freddy. I don't know what would've happened if it wasn't for you."

"It was nothing. Are you okay? Well, more okay?"

She nodded, then leaned forward and put her arms around his neck. His arms went around her waist and he pulled her close. "Thanks, Jones," she whispered, before kissing him on the cheek. He released her, grinning. "Maybe I should punch guys more often if that's my reward." She swatted him on the arm.

"Shut up." Then she grinned, and Freddy knew she'd soon be all right. She stepped back into the house. "Bye, Jones."

He took a hold of her hand resting on the door and lightly pressed his lips to it. "Later, Brown."

He smiled slightly, then walked back to his car. Katie watched him leave, a small smile on her face and her hand burning where he had kissed it.

ooOoo

A/N: I know you're either going, 'awww' or throwing up from how sappy this was. I'd say I'm in the middle of both. Click on the review button. CLICK!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: It's not miiiiiiine. Unfortunately.

ooOoo

Freddy was still asleep at 11 o'clock the next morning, but was jolted awake by the sound of his cell phone. He blindly felt for it on his nightstand, and checked the caller ID. "What the fuck, Mooneyham?" He listened. "Oh, shit!" He hung up the phone, jumped out of bed and grabbed his jeans from the night before, and a dirty shirt picked up from the floor of his room and ran into the bathroom. He relieved himself, stuck a toothbrush in his mouth, and put on his clothes. He ran back to his bedroom, put on his shoes, and then went back to the bathroom and spat. He ran his fingers through his hair as he took the stairs two at a time, and told his bewildered mother in the kitchen that he had band practice. Freddy grabbed his jacket, keys, and drumsticks and ran to his car.

He slammed on the gas pedal and the tires screeched as he left his driveway. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…"

In record time, he was at Dewey's apartment, and sped up the stairs, drumsticks in hand. He threw open the door, panting heavily, before getting behind the drums, just in time for his solo, which was, by some miracle, executed perfectly.

While drumming, he chanced a look at Katie, and found her to be grinning at him. He smiled back, before focusing his attention on the music.

Later, after practice, Freddy waited around for Katie while she packed up her bass. He didn't have to move his drums; they stayed at Dewey's; he had his own in his room.

"You know, Jones, you're damn lucky you're so good at drumming, or else you'd have been kicked out by now."

He smirked. "Yeah, I know, Brown. But I'm irreplaceable, aren't I?"

She shook her head. "More like irrepressible."

Freddy grinned. "Hey, you want to come over? Hang out? Nobody's home, and you know I won't do my homework without motivation…"

"Fine. I have to go to my house first; I need my books."

"Okay."

Katie quickly drove home, grabbed her backpack, yelled to her mother that she was going to Freddy's, and was knocking on the door to his house in less than fifteen minutes.

"Hey."

She walked in, not needing to be invited, as she had been inside his house far too many times. "Hey." She set her backpack down. "I'm hungry. Got anything?"

He made a face. "Mom's on some new soy diet and apparently we all have to participate. It's fucking disgusting. But there's like, cereal."

Katie grinned. "Cap'n Crunch?"

He rolled his eyes. Cap'n Crunch was her favorite cereal, no, scratch that, her favorite food, and even though he was a Lucky Charms man himself (well, marshmallow man, anyway), it always seemed to be in the house.

"Of course."

He got out two bowls, poured the cereal and milk, and they sat down at the table and ate.

"You know, this is the only food I can make." He looked at his spoon thoughtfully. "This and Easy Mac."

"I'll teach you to cook."

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious. When your mom's given up on this diet and buys real food, I'll show you. It's really not that hard."

He looked genuinely interested. "Cool."

She raised an eyebrow, done with her cereal. "Ready to study now?"

He sighed heavily, but got up, leaving the bowls on the table. Katie cleared the bowls herself, as she always did after they ate cereal, and followed him to his room, picking up her backpack on the way.

"Do you _ever_ clean this thing?"

There were clothes, CDs, notebooks and pens (for his writing), and even the occasional piece of food strewn about his room. His boxers, from the morning, she assumed (and hoped that they were not older) were lying haphazardly on top of his stereo, and his drums were in the corner, the only part of his room that he seemed to care about. That area was spotless.

She gingerly picked up a shirt off his bed and sat down. He took a seat on the floor after clearing away a pair of jeans, and grinned at her.

"Wish I could. Too busy, though."

"More like lazy. Come on, I'll help you. I can't study in this environment."

He smirked. "You know, my mom loves it when you come over because it means this room gets cleaned."

"You're such an ass."

"So, you've been thinking about mine?"

She let out a frustrated sigh, then threw a sock at him.

It completely missed, and he began laughing. Katie looked at him, his shoulders shaking with laughter, surrounded by dirty clothes and paper, and she couldn't help but laugh too. Eventually, Freddy stopped laughing, and looked at Katie, still smiling. She grinned back at him, and slid off the bed onto the floor. They were shoulder to shoulder, and she shifted so her head was in his lap.

"I'm sleepy."

He smiled softly down at her, not fazed in the least. She often would lean on his shoulder, or place her head in his lap; neither act was meant to be even slightly romantic, but rather served as proof of how close of a friendship they had.

"I can tell."

She yawned. "Tough…night."

"Yeah. Go to sleep; I'll wake you in a while."

She smiled sleepily at him. "Thanks."

With that, she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep, still in his lap. He leaned back on his palms and reached for a notebook and a pen. He carefully placed it on the side of his leg as not to wake her, and began to write.

An hour and a half later, Katie was snoring softly and Freddy was furiously scribbling away. His leg was asleep, but he ignored it, completely absorbed in what he was doing. Katie stirred in his lap, and blinked her eyes. She looked up to find Freddy's hair hanging over his eyes, his brow wrinkled. He started at her movement and smiled down at her.

"Better?"

"Yeah. What are you writing?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. It's crap."

"_Nothing_ you write is crap, Freddy. Can I see?"

He shrugged again, not really caring one way or the other. Katie was the only one that ever read the things he wrote outside of school; she was the only person he was comfortable enough to share it with. He looked down at her while she read. She was pretty, he supposed, with her dark hair, and big, dark eyes. They had been friends for such a long time that he hadn't ever really stopped to think about her in a non-platonic way.

She handed the notebook back to him. "Brilliant, as always. You should get this stuff published."

He scoffed. "Yeah right."

Katie bit her tongue. She had forever been trying to convince the young drummer to seriously think about submitting his work, but had never yet been successful. Katie wasn't one to avoid arguments to make life easier, but she was too comfortably situated in her best friend's lap to give him hard time. For now.

"Hey, since I'm teaching you to cook, I think it's only fair you teach me something in return."

"What could _I_ possibly teach you?"

She looked up at him. "To play drums."

"_What?_ You want me to teach you how to _drum_?"

"Why is that so weird?"

He tilted his head. "It's not so weird, but…random, I guess. You've never expressed an interest before."

"Well, I'm expressing an interest now. Come on. Right now."

She got up from his lap and Freddy wished for her warm weight on his legs to come back. Katie waggled her fingers in his face and he grasped her hand, pulling himself up.

She sat down behind his drums, and picked up his drumsticks. She tapped on the cymbal softly and Freddy laughed. "You can hit it as hard as you want, you know." To prove his point, he grabbed his spare set of sticks off his nightstand and banged loudly. She took his advice to heart and hit the bass drum as hard as she could. "I like that one best."

"That's the _bass_ drum, Brown."

She laughed. "No wonder."

"You can bang all you want, but it won't be a lesson. Move over, I'll teach you something."

She scooted over on the already small seat, and Freddy sat down and drummed something simple. She tried to repeat it, but failed miserably.

"Almost. Try again."

They carried on in this way for a while, until Katie let out a frustrated sigh. "This is fucking _hard_, Jones. I give up. I want my bass."

She pouted, and he laughed, before picking up his drumsticks and effortlessly playing his solo from their latest song. "Yeah, _so_ hard."

"Shut up. It's not like you can play guitar."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Katie yawned and got up from the chair. "Can we study now, Jones? I'm expected at home in two hours. Move your ass."

He saluted. "Yes ma'am."

ooOoo

As planned, Katie left two hours later, ate dinner, and went to bed. She was in her soft, warm, comfortable bed when her cell phone rang. She groaned, loudly, but padded over to her dresser and dug around in her purse. She flipped it open. "What the hell, Jones?"

His voice was barely coming through. "Shit cell phone…low battery…car…broke…pick me up…sorry…called everyone….Mooneyham…fucking…asshole."

She sighed. "Fine, I'll pick you up. Where are you? Say it loudly."

He told her, and she wrote it down. "I'll be there soon."

She put on her coat over her pajamas, slipped on her shoes, and told her mother where she was going.

Katie found where he was without any trouble, and Freddy all but jumped into the car when she pulled it over, furiously rubbing his hands together to get warm. His teeth were chattering, but he managed to convey an apology. "Sorry, Brown. I called everyone else first; I knew you were tired. Mooneyham's a bastard. He's on a fucking _date_ and refused to pick me up."

She nodded, not angry, but as Freddy had said, tired. She yawned. "What about your car?"

"I called a tow truck. The girl told me that it'll be here in five minutes. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." She leaned her head back on the seat and tilted her head so he could see her blinking sleepily at him. He smiled apologetically.

"I'm really sorry, Kates."

Kates. He only brought that out when he was truly apologizing, and strangely, when he was being sincerely nice to her. Which meant that he didn't use it very often.

She smiled, secretly liking the nickname. "It's nothing, Freddy. What were you doing?"

His stomach growled, and he grinned sheepishly. "Getting food. I snuck out after our 'healthy' dinner. My mom was beyond pissed when I called. She even refused to pick me up. 'Get one of your friends to do it, Frederick!'" He said this last part in a very high voice.

She snickered. "Serves you right for sneaking out."

He scoffed. "Like you've never done it."

"I've only ever snuck out because of you, Jones. So those times don't count."

Just then, they saw the flashing lights of the tow truck, and Freddy got out to talk to the driver. Katie watched as he began gesturing animatedly, obviously disliking whatever was to be done with his car, but then was apparently appeased by something the driver said, as he started nodding his head in agreement.

He walked back towards the car and got in. "Let's go."

"The car?"

"It's all taken care of."

"Okay."

She drove, letting Freddy fiddle with the radio before he gave up and put in a CD from her glove compartment. They arrived at his house ten minutes later.

"Thanks for this, Brown."

She waved his thanks away. "No big deal. Try not to get grounded for too long."

He grimaced. "Shit. I forgot."

Freddy got out of the car, and walked up the steps to his house. He turned around and waved to her, and she smiled.

Maybe now she could go to sleep.

ooOoo

Reviews are very much appreciated! Even if this latest chapter was exceedingly sappy.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: School of Rock isn't miiiiiiiiine.

ooOoo

Freddy ran outside of school as soon as it let out, followed by Katie who was not moving quite as quickly. "God, I'm glad this week is finally over."

Indeed, it had been a difficult week for them, as midterms were only a week away and all their teachers had been pounding information from the beginning of the year into their heads. Hell, it seemed as if they took their entire AP exams only halfway through the year. To be fair, they did attend one of the most prestigious private high schools in the country. He had a brutal amount of homework to get done over the weekend, and they had a gig to play on Saturday night, too.

Katie grinned. "I'm guessing you don't want to study tonight."

"You guessed right. Can't I have just one night to relax?"

"Sure. What do you want to do tonight?"

He shrugged. "I'm not really in the mood to do anything. You want to just hang out? At my house?"

She looked relieved. "Good, I'm not up anything either. Maybe we can go somewhere for dinner?"

"Yeah, okay. Let's go."

They walked to their cars, and Katie followed Freddy to his house. Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting in his room, an AC/DC song playing softly from his stereo. Freddy was lying on his bed, and Katie was sitting at the end of it, her back leaning on the wall that was adjacent to it, her legs stretched out so they were on top of his. Their eyes were closed; both of them exhausted from their trying day. They were both on the verge of falling asleep, and Katie sleepily pushed Freddy closer to the edge of the bed to give her enough room to lie down next to him. Both of them were asleep in under a minute.

An hour later, Freddy awoke to find Katie's arm on his chest, her leg on top of his. His breathing hitched; she had never been so close to him, and he could feel her warm breath on his neck. She stirred, and slowly blinked her eyes open. They widened at their close proximity to him, and she turned her head to look up at his face, presumably to see if he was awake. Upon finding his eyes open and looking at her, a deep flush spread on her cheeks. She immediately removed her hand from his chest and tried to disentangle her leg from his, but Freddy wouldn't budge. Katie looked up at his face to find that he looked _amused_, of all things. "What's with the blushing, Posh?"

She gaped at him. "You mean to tell me that this," she gestured between them, "isn't awkward at all?"

"What's awkward? Come on, Brown, we've been best friends for over six years and known each other since we were five years old. I think we know each other well enough not to be embarrassed. It's not as if we _did_ anything."

Katie looked at him, a strange expression on her face before she nodded and slowly settled back next to him and relaxed. They lay that way for a few minutes before Katie broke the silence. "Why don't you have a girlfriend, Freddy?"

He shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know. Why?"

"I was just wondering."

He nodded. "What about you? Why no boyfriend?"

She sighed. "I don't know either."

Freddy suddenly sat up. "Come on, I feel like going somewhere."

Katie followed him off the bed, feeling restless herself. She looked up at him and burst out laughing. One side of his hair was plastered to the side of his head (the side he had slept on), while on the other side, the hair was completely normal. He immediately looked in the mirror and furiously combed his fingers through his hair, returning it to its normal state. He glared at her. "Oh, like yours is any better."

She immediately stopped laughing and ran her fingers through her own hair. She looked at him thoughtfully. "You know, I liked your hair pre-Dewey."

He gave her a skeptical look before rearranging his hair so it was parted and the side and lay flat on his head. "Like this? Seriously?"

She nodded. "You look like a little kid."

Indeed, the hairstyle made his brown eyes look wider, more innocent, though she doubted the word _innocent_ could have ever been used to describe Freddy Jones.

He looked at himself in the mirror before shaking his head and messing up his hair roughly. "Let's go."

Five minutes later, they were in Freddy's car, trying to decide where to go for dinner. They finally settled on Chinese, and Freddy drove to the restaurant. They got a huge amount of food, as the only thing Freddy liked more than drumming and writing was eating. Katie was secretly jealous. What he ate in a single meal was more than she ate in an entire day and yet he still managed to keep his skinny form without doing even the least bit of exercise (besides drumming, of course, but that didn't count).

They got the food as take-out and Freddy drove back to his house. They sat across from each other at the table in the kitchen, and began to eat.

Katie finished before Freddy and rested her head on her hand. She sighed. "I'm going to miss this place when we leave for college."

He looked up from his food, which he had been shoving into his mouth. "Yeah? I'm glad we're getting out."

Her face took on a wounded expression. "You won't miss me?"

He laughed. "I think you're the only thing I'll miss, Brown."

"And the band?"

"Well, yeah, them too."

She suddenly looked serious. "Promise me we'll stay in touch, Freddy."

Freddy smiled softly. "Of course."

Katie returned his smile, and then stood up and stretched before clearing her side of the table. "Let's watch TV."

He shoveled the last of his food into his mouth before joining her at the wastebasket. "Okay."

They sat on the couch in front of the TV and Freddy started flipping channels. After a while of this, she leaned into his side and yawned. "We're so lame."

He grinned. "Aren't we? We should be at a party on a Friday night, getting wasted, not sitting at home watching whatever the hell we're watching."

She suddenly grew serious. "Hey, do you…do you remember last year? When all you did was get wasted?"

He stiffened. "Yeah. You…you know I'm over that now, right?"

He felt her nod against his shoulder. "I know you are, Freddy. But we've never really talked about it before. I…I was so scared for you, did you know that? I didn't know what to do to stop you, until you somehow came to your senses on your own. I was ready to intervene when you did that."

Freddy swallowed. "I never told you how that happened, did I? How I stopped on my own?"

She shook her head. "No. How?"

He looked down at his lap. "It was after band practice one day. You were…crying, and you rarely _ever_ cry, and then Zack came over to see why. All I could hear was 'Freddy' and 'drinking', and I knew I _had_ to stop. We've been friends for so long, classmates for even longer, and all I could think was that I'd never seen you that upset in my life, and that _I _was the cause of it."

She sat up. "Freddy…"

He looked up at her, his dark gaze suddenly intense. "I…I wanted you to know. And I'm so sorry. More than you could possibly imagine. For putting you through that. For making you cry."

Katie was not an overly emotional person, in fact, she couldn't remember a time in her teenage life when she had spilled tears twice in one week, but she could feel tears welling in her eyes. She looked at her lap, willing the tears to go away, but when she looked up at Freddy again, the tears spilled over onto her cheeks and she began crying. She slowly wrapped her arms around him, and she felt his own encircle her waist. Her face was pressed to his neck and she was in an awkward position, halfway in his lap. Freddy gently pulled her up so she was totally in his lap and tightened his arms around her. "You have no idea how much you mean to me, Freddy. My biggest fear was that you'd somehow hurt yourself or…be killed while you were drunk, or that you'd drive drunk, and that I could have prevented it, had I done something."

"What? Kates, please…please don't feel _guilty_! I…please, Katie…that's the last thing you should think…it was such a difficult situation, and I would have struggled with the same thing if our roles had been reversed."

She shook her head, still not believing him. "I've wanted to talk to you about this for a while, actually."

He gently stroked her hair, and then turned his head to kiss her temple. "I'm sorry. You don't have to hide anything from me- you know that, right? Why'd you wait so long if it was bothering you this much?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was scared, I guess."

He frowned, obviously not satisfied with her answer, but didn't say anything.

"Let's go outside."

"Freddy, it's freezing."

He stood up and held out his hand. "Let's go, Brown. I'll keep you warm." He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Fine, let's go."

Once outside, they linked arms almost immediately, and walked towards the park. As they walked, Freddy couldn't help but look at his companion. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold and she had a small smile on her lips. Her dark hair was flying around her face in the wind and Freddy was captivated. It had killed him when she had cried earlier- to know that he had caused that to happen- _again­­_- made his stomach clench in guilt. He resolved to make sure she would never be so unhappy again.

Unbeknownst to him, Katie was having similar thoughts. She was still struggling with her guilt- that she had not somehow helped Freddy while he had been drinking- and she was wringing her hands together, something she always did while nervous. She looked up at Freddy, but he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice.

His mouth was curved into a frown, his brow wrinkled. His hair was whipping across his face, but he wasn't paying attention. Her gaze shifted to his eyes, and she was startled to find him looking at her. Coffee met chocolate in a heated gaze and both felt their respective feelings of guilt fade away. They both suddenly _knew_ that they had nothing to hide from one another and they had no reason to linger over past events. They stopped walking simultaneously and just stared.

The next thing Freddy knew, a pair of soft, warm lips was on his, and he instinctively closed his eyes. He now hesitantly opened them to see that it was really _Katie _kissing him, and felt her begin to pull back, obviously not encouraged by his lack of response. Freddy quickly placed his arms around her waist and kissed her back. It had been an awkward first kiss; their teeth had clanked together when Katie had surprised him and their lips had mashed together awkwardly, but neither of them would have changed it for the world. This kiss, however, was slow and deliberate, their lips moving languidly against one another's, and Katie felt her knees weakening.

Freddy broke the kiss, and began to lightly kiss her eyelids, her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, before softly placing his lips on hers again. Her arms tightened around his neck and he closed the distance between them. Freddy pulled away slightly and touched his forehead against hers. They were looking at each other now, both of them breathing heavily. Katie opened her mouth to speak but before she could say anything, Freddy was kissing her again and her brain abruptly shut down. A lack of oxygen forced them to break the kiss, and Katie placed her head on Freddy's shoulder. He held her tightly, and she kissed his cheek softly before pulling back to look at him. Freddy exhaled loudly. "This…things are different now, aren't they?"

"I'd say so, Freddy. Is it…is it a…good different?"

He swallowed. "I think so…I think it's a really good different."

She smiled at him. "Me too."

He smiled back, before smirking deviously. "I always knew you were hot for me, Brown."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're the one who couldn't keep your hands off me, as I recall."

Freddy grinned and kissed her forehead. "I think this is going to be an _excellent_ different."

Katie grinned back and moved her face closer to his. "Shut up and kiss me, Jones."

The End

Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed! This was my first fanfiction and I'm so glad it got so many positive responses. Look for a new story soon (if I can get over my writer's block)!


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